Logomania on the Loewe SS’16 runway. Image courtesy of Loewe.
2016 saw a resurgence in the logo as center stage in fashion. Our wardrobes have been stamped with brand names, from Loewe suits to Louis Vuitton vests. Designers have embraced typography in a big way, whether it is their own name or others a la Jeremy Scott and Vetements, and judging by last week’s Gosha Rubchinskiy show, ‘logomania’ looks set to continue.
From Gosha Rubchinskiy SS17, images via Instagram user:
tomwrighthair
The menswear darling reworked iconic – albeit less popular – Italian sportswear labels, like Fila and Kappa into his SS’17 collection, editing the famous names with his own, referencing his usual post-Soviet lust for capitalism: the branded logo being the ultimate symbol of this.
The collaborations were legitimate, and although the riffs on the designs may have bought ‘rip-off sportswear’ to mind, it was an appreciation for the now obscure labels, rather than an appropriation of the Shanzhai market, and the people who buy into it due to lack of funds and desire to wear labels as status.
In the UK these brands, especially Kappa has had a rough ride in the past few years, made infamous by TV’s ‘Kappa Slapper’ Vicky Pollard in Little Britain, a snobbish poke at sportswear-wearing teenage mothers. Aligning with a brand like Rubchinskiy should hopefully shake this connection which Burberry also worked hard to forget, when their signature plaid took on similar associations in the early 2000s.
Image: Christian Werner
Counterfeit Culture
If designers are happily making clothes that suggest a likeness to fakes, how long before fashion fans jump on the real (fake) thing? Gosha Rubchinskiy might have gotten approval from Kappa and Fila, but his legions of fans, who perhaps can’t afford his clothes may go straight to the Shanzhai source.
With an Instagram filters built to soften the harsh reality of designer rip-offs, and the current obsession with logos, we predict a surge in faking it. Rubchinskiy famously claims he is ‘not fashion’, but what says that more than side-stepping the prescribed ‘real thing’ and opting for an iconic homage? Perhaps it’s the ultimate inverted snobbery? Wearing counterfeit says “I could spend two grand on the authentic piece. But I don’t need to. I’m ‘above’ fashion.” Luxury brands may have cause to worry.
An Homage to an Homage: Berlin-based designer and stylist @iampaterickmason wearing an ‘authentic’ Polizei poloshirt from Ebay (in homage to the Vetements sweaters that used the logo). Image Christian Werner.